


Reliable Narrator

by garbage_will_do



Series: Break and Mend [3]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Episode Tag, Episode: s03e08 Visionary, M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-24
Updated: 2013-07-24
Packaged: 2017-12-21 06:31:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/896963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/garbage_will_do/pseuds/garbage_will_do
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek comes back, and Stiles gets the chance to ask about Paige.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Reliable Narrator

**Author's Note:**

> This is just a really short response to the last episode.

Stiles stayed at the loft for a couple hours after Peter left. Cora was still there when he did finally walk out the door, promising to let him know when Derek came back. What he didn't expect, however, was to walk into his room and find the Alpha sitting on the edge of his bed and hunched over.

"Hey." Derek looked up at the teen when he spoke, giving him a half-hearted smile. "How are you doing?"

"Better... I can still feel his blood on my hands sometimes, though." Stiles sat down slowly next to Derek. He pressed his side against the werewolf's, offering his hand to hold - which was hesitantly taken. "I could feel it, Stiles... When he died I could feel his power becoming my own, and it felt... _good_. But at the same time it was worse than losing Laura or Erica because it was my fault, he died by my hands instead of some other Alpha, and I don't-"

"Derek, it wasn't your fault. They didn't even give you a choice, they forced you to hurt him. Neither of you had a chance against _three_ of them." 

Stiles pulled Derek up off the bed by his hand, kicking off his shoes, and then pulling him back on the bed to lean on the headboard. They sat in a comfortable silence, Stiles brushing his thumb over the Alpha's knuckles. "Can you tell me about Paige?" Stiles asked softly.

Derek's body tensed. "How-"

"Peter. He was telling me and Cora about that last time the Alpha's were here, and why your eye color changed from gold to blue." Derek was still tense, and refused to look up. "Look, you don't have to tell me, but I don't trust that he was telling the whole truth."

The Alpha took a shaky breath, and incrementally relaxed into Stiles' side. "What did he tell you?"

"He said it was your idea to turn her, and that you went to Ennis because he had just lost a beta. And that you changed your mind at the last second, but she had already been bitten."

Derek swallowed past the lump in his throat. "It was his idea. I didn't want to consider it, but he kept bringing it up so I agreed. He was the one that approached Ennis and set up everything." A tear welled up in his eye and slid down his cheek. "I could hear him chase her, and her screaming my name saying _'help me, help me'_. I ran when it got quiet because I thought he had killed her. But she didn't turn like we thought she would." His whole body was shaking now with the sobs he was trying to hold in. "I killed her because she was in so much pain... No one deserves that kind of pain."

Stiles shushed him, holding him closer and kissing the top of his head. "You couldn't have known, Derek. It wasn't your fault."

When the Alpha finally quieted, Stiles heard him mumble. "Why do you do this, Stiles? Why do you take care of me? ...Everyone around me gets hurt sooner or later. They get hurt by me, or because of me. I've already hurt you once..." Derek looked up into the teen's face with red-rimmed eyes. "So, why do you do it?"

"Because you deserve it. And because I love you."  


End file.
